SNP downgrade flagship pre-election NHS pledge in 'disastrous' move for patients

The Scottish Government had vowed in December that no patient would wait longer than a year for an outpatient appointment, in-patient treatment or day case treatment by March 2026.

The pledge was poised to be a key plank of the Scottish Government’s offering to voters showing the NHS was on the road to recovery, with the date coming just two months before May’s Holyrood election.

In December, when delivering her draft Budget at Holyrood, SNP Finance Secretary Shona Robison said: “Because of today’s record funding, our health service can reduce waiting times.

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“By March 2026, no-one will wait longer than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment, in-patient treatment or day case treatment.”

But when asked by ITV Border if he could still meet the pledge, SNP Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “That’s our aspiration. That’s what we’re driving towards.”

He added: “We are committing substantial levels of investment and capacity and rewiring the way that our elective process works.

“I believe we are doing everything we possibly can in order to meet that objective. And that’s something we’ll continue to support and invest in.

“The commitment we made at the start of this year was to provide an additional 150,000 procedures within the health service in Scotland. We now anticipate that that will be an additional 213,000 producers within the NHS.”

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A Scottish Government spokesperson later said that the pledge remains intact.

Scottish Labour deputy leader and health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “We are not even three days into the new parliamentary term and yet SNP ministers are already rowing back on their promises to Scots who are being forced to languish on waiting lists.

“This once again proves beyond any doubt that talk is very cheap indeed when it comes to the SNP. Their record of delivery is frankly disastrous, and it is patients who are being made to suffer as a result.”

Ms Baillie added: “Over 100,000 Scots have been stuck on an NHS waiting list for tests or treatment for over a year. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of people are being forced to go private because they simply cannot endure the agonising waits they are having to put up with for any longer.

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“Nowhere is the SNP’s failure clearer than in the state of Scotland’s NHS. Scottish Labour has been clear that we will make cutting waiting times and clearing the NHS backlog our day-one priority if elected to government.”

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, said: “This latest SNP broken promise is a devastating blow for patients.

“Not having to wait more than a year for NHS treatment should never have been an ambitious pledge, it should be the norm.

“These delays have been virtually eradicated south of the Border, yet shockingly, in Scotland, more than 67,000 patients are still waiting over 12 months for treatment.

“These intolerable waits have a devastating impact on patients’ physical and mental wellbeing, but SNP ministers still don’t have a plan to tackle this crisis.

“Neil Gray needs to stop the spin and back our bold plan to cut bureaucracy and divert resources to the frontline to cut waiting lists.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Our position is unchanged on waiting times – by March 2026 no one will wait more than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment or inpatient/daycase treatment.

“We are investing more than £110 million this year to cut waits, and we expect to see the full impact of our targeted funding in the coming months. This targeted funding is expected to deliver more than 213,000 additional procedures and appointments this year.

“Our plan is clearly working with a record number of hip and knee operations last year and the highest level of operations performed in July since February 2020.”